Skerritt reportedly turned down the offer from 20th Century Fox to reprise his role as Duke on the series because he doubted that a half-hour sitcom adaptation of the film would succeed. In the film, when it is proposed that Oliver Harmon «Spearchucker» Jones will bunk with the other surgeons in the Swamp, Duke treats him with disrespect (implied to be because of his Southern heritage), until Hawkeye and Trapper rebuke him. In both the novel and the film, he is a surgeon assigned to the 4077th, who arrives with Hawkeye. However, she faced racial discrimination and he turned to bookmaking, and is only able to escape prison time when Sherman Potter offers a character reference and hires him as his assistant at the veterans’ hospital in Missouri where he now works. In the sixth-season episode «What’s Up, Doc?», Klinger is indicated to be 30-years-old. In other episodes, Klinger pleads with Allah to help him out of a jam.
Characters
In another episode, Burns is gullible enough to believe that the US Army Corps of Engineers is going to make MASH hospitals amphibious. In the TV series, though by military rank Burns is second-in-command of the unit, he is in fact outranked in medical matters by Hawkeye, who reluctantly accepts appointment by Colonel Blake as Chief Surgeon. The film version includes elements of the novel’s Major Jonathan Hobson, a very religious man who prays for all souls to be saved. In the film, it is overtly sexual and broadcast throughout the camp when Radar puts a microphone under Hot Lips’ bunk in her tent. As Burns holds the same rank as Hawkeye in the novel, Blake tries to make sure neither is on duty at the same time, but cannot do so when things get busy. He unjustly accuses a rookie orderly, Boone (Bud Cort in the film), of killing one of his patients and nearly kills another patient, earning him retaliatory assaults from Duke and Trapper John.
The JAG colonel investigating the incident to determine if a court-martial is warranted concluded there were no grounds for a court-martial, and indicated that according to Burns’ record, «If you hadn’t been drafted as a doctor, I think you’d have been assigned as a pastry chef.» In an early episode, before his character becomes more of a buffoon, he demonstrated himself to be an efficient, though still micromanaging, commander. The character also appeared as a new central character in AfterMASH, a spin-off starring the three cast members who had voted (unsuccessfully) to continue the first series. Despite his stern military bearing, Potter is a relatively relaxed and laid-back commander, not above involving himself in camp hijinks and understanding the need for fun and games to boost morale during wartime, particularly in the high-pressure atmosphere of a MASH. Potter is married to Mildred, and they have only one daughter and one grandson in some episodes, while in others he has multiple children – including a son born in 1926 who is a dentist – and grandchildren. While Henry is in command of the 4077th, his wife – called Mildred in earlier episodes, Lorraine in later ones (the reason is never explained) – gives birth to a son back in Bloomington.
Henry Blake
Maxwell himself was primarily on set every day as the stand in for Alan Alda, performing this task for the duration of the series. In later seasons, his roles were expanding, making him more of a recurring cast member. In the episode «I Hate a Mystery», Ho-Jon steals many valuable items and Hawkeye’s poker winnings to bribe the border guards to bring his family down from the North.
Father John Mulcahy
Special television sets were placed in PX parking lots, auditoriums and day rooms of the U.S. «But our show was a film show – supposedly shot in the middle of Korea. So the question I always asked the network was, ‘Who are these laughing people? Where did they come from?'» Gelbart persuaded CBS to test the show in private screenings with and without the laugh track. Seasons 1–5 utilized a more invasive laugh track; a more subdued audience was employed for Seasons 6–11 when the series shifted from sitcom to comedy drama with the departure of Gelbart and Reynolds. The Swamp and Operating Room sets, one of the show’s 14 Emmy Awards, early drafts of the pilot script, costumes from the show and other memorabilia were all exhibited. Through the 1990s, the area was occasionally used for television commercial production. The fire was written into the final episode «Goodbye, Farewell and Amen» as a forest fire caused by enemy incendiary bombs that forced the 4077th to move out.
- Henry is a good man and a capable surgeon but unfocused and often ineffective as a commanding officer.
- However, she faced racial discrimination and he turned to bookmaking, and is only able to escape prison time when Sherman Potter offers a character reference and hires him as his assistant at the veterans’ hospital in Missouri where he now works.
- In the late 1980s, the cast had a partial reunion in a series of commercials for IBM products, including personal computers and the AS/400 system.
- The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war.
- Hawkeye told a court of inquiry that Burns had created more widows and orphans than salmonella, and a psychiatrist that the war «forced me to operate next to a surgeon who can’t cut his toenails without committing malpractice»; Trapper John sneers Burns could not cut salami without bungling it; B.
Staff Sergeant Zelmo Zale
- Igor was seen in 48 episodes, the second most frequent recurring character after Nurse Kellye (portrayed by Kellye Nakahara) who appeared in 167 episodes.
- The final episode produced was the penultimately aired episode «As Time Goes By».
- A nurse at the 4077th, who at times casually dates both Hawkeye and Trapper.
- For example, in the episode «In Love and War», a new nurse arrives at the 4077th.
When the Korean Armistice Agreement is announced, he states his intention to return to Crabapple Cove to be a local doctor who has the time to get to know his patients, instead of contending with the endless flow of casualties he faced during his time in Korea. He boards a Quartermaster Corps bus/hearse which has dead soldiers aboard, saying he has just about had his fill of war, and admits he is tired of seeing death every day. He recommended that Hawkeye return to the 4077th for the end of the war to come to terms with what he had endured. In the series finale, «Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen», Hawkeye experiences a mental breakdown when a Korean woman suffocates her infant child in response to his frantic demand that she quiet her child lest enemy soldiers hear it and discover them. As a surgeon, he does not like the use of firearms and he refuses to carry a sidearm as required by regulations when serving as Officer of the Day.
Nurse Griffin was played by Lynnette Mettey and appeared in three episodes during the first season as one of Hawkeye’s romantic partners. The producers decided to drop the character after the first few episodes, reasoning that they wouldn’t be dmt risks and dependence find treatment today able to write enough meaningful episodes for Spearchucker if they were concentrating on Hawkeye and Trapper. Captain Oliver Harmon «Spearchucker» Jones is a character who appears in the novel MASH (and its sequels), and was portrayed by Fred Williamson in the movie and Timothy Brown in the television series.
He tells Hawkeye he has «a great practice back home», but a «routine» one, and that by serving in Korea, he is doing more doctoring than he would otherwise do in a lifetime. In the film and novel, he is a career Army physician, having been commissioned before World War II. He is a surgeon and the original commanding officer of the 4077th MASH unit. On an episode of St. Elsewhere, it was mentioned and implied by Dr. Mark Craig (portrayed by William Daniels) that B. He actively avoids the finality of farewells, but when the 4077th is disbanded in the series finale, he is last seen riding his Indian motorcycle away from camp, while Hawkeye sees from a helicopter that B. On another occasion, he gave away a Bronze Star he was awarded because he felt he did not deserve it.
Charles Emerson Winchester III, M.D.
In the early part of the series he was a stock character of comic relief who usually talked about the Korean orphans taken care of by Catholic nuns. He was played by George Morgan in the pilot episode of the series, but the producers decided that a quirkier individual was needed for the role. In 1984, Burghoff guest-starred in two episodes of AfterMASH as Radar, now living on the family farm in Iowa. His full name is never given in the original novel or film, but on the TV series it is Walter Eugene O’Reilly, «Walter» being picked by Burghoff himself.
Main characters
In the television series, he is 44 years old and a reservist called up to active duty and taken from his private practice in Bloomington, Illinois. He replaced Trapper, both in his position within the unit and as an ally of Hawkeye Pierce and a foil of Frank Burns, appearing in all but one episode of the rest of the series. Trapper John, along with The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Lou Grant, thus became one of a handful of 1970s television characters to be successfully adapted from situation comedy to drama. In the first season, McIntyre’s chief nurse, nicknamed «Starch», is said to have served with/worked for him in Korea, but never appeared in the novel, movie, or TV series. This frustrated Rogers, and in combination with a dispute over the terms of the original five-year contract, he quit the show shortly before production of the fourth season began; the character of Trapper was abruptly discharged from the Army and sent back to the United States.
Outside the U.S., the series is available on Disney+’s Star section and the Star+ service in Latin America. McLean Stevenson won the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series in 1974. The show won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) in 1981. Like the movie, the series was as much an allegory about the Vietnam War (still in progress when the show began) as it was about the Korean War. Stories persist that the episode was seen by so many people that the New York City Sanitation/Public Works Department reported the plumbing systems broke down in some parts of the city from so many New Yorkers waiting until the end to use the toilet.
Maxwell Klinger
However, the producers added a final scene to his last episode in which Radar delivers news that Blake’s plane has been shot down with no survivors. (Although junior in rank, Pierce was a specialist surgeon in chest wounds while Burns was a general practitioner.) Blake also shows superior skills in assessing medical talent, when he ignores military rank and appoints Hawkeye Pierce as chief surgeon over Frank Burns. For example, in the episode «Rainbow Bridge», he has to decide whether to send his doctors into enemy territory for an exchange of wounded prisoners. Henry is a good man and a capable surgeon but unfocused and often ineffective as a commanding officer.
Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) Samuel Flagg is played by Edward Winter. In the episode «The Incubator», and in this episode only, he is presented as a fool, answering questions of reporters in military double talk. In the book, the character’s full name is Hamilton Hartington Hammond, and he is stationed in Seoul. Wood, making him one of two actors to reprise his film role in the TV show. Her family lives in Honolulu according to her statements in the final episode. The first name «Kealani» was never spoken on screen, but according to interviews with the actress, that was the first name used on set when referring to the character.
Just as the series was wrapping production, a brush fire destroyed most of the outdoor set on October 9, 1982. Later, after the indoor set was renovated to permit many of the «outdoor» scenes to be filmed there, both sets were used for exterior shooting as script requirements dictated (e.g., night scenes were far easier to film on the sound stage, but scenes at the helicopter pad required using the ranch). The indoor set, on Stage 09 at Fox Studios in Century City, was used for the indoor scenes for the run of the series. The final episode produced was the penultimately aired episode «As Time Goes By».
Nonetheless, he maintains a dismissive attitude toward his better-trained colleagues, blaming others for his failures. In the novel, Burns is a well-off doctor who attended medical school, but whose training as a surgeon was limited to an apprenticeship with his father in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Among the resident in-patients is one of Potter’s subordinates from World War I, who addresses him as «Sarge» as opposed to his retired rank of colonel. Formally salute Potter as he leaves the camp, one of the few times either is shown doing so. As an indication of their respect for him, in the final episode Hawkeye and B.